West Virginia's Jarrett Brown laughs at idea Rutgers sees him as a villain

Andrew Mills/The Star-LedgerIn this photo from 2006, West Virginia QB Jarrett Brown rolls out and fires a touchdown strike in the third overtime of Rutgers' triple OT loss in the final Big East football game of the regular season.Until Rutgers finally breaks through with its first BCS bowl appearance, one game and one player will continue to torment the program.

The game was the 2006 regular-season finale at West Virginia.

The player? Quarterback Jarrett Brown, who made his first career start that game in place of the injured Pat White.

The funny thing is, while Rutgers fans can still recall that agonizing near-miss loss in vivid detail, Brown — the major contributor to relegating one the best teams in school history to the Texas Bowl instead — is a bit sketchy on the particulars.

Saturday, the Mountaineers’ fifth-year senior gets another chance at inflicting just a little more pain on Rutgers when West Virginia visits in a meeting of 8-3 bowl-bound teams.

“For real?” said Brown, when told that many Rutgers followers still haven’t been able to let go of the 41-39 triple-overtime loss to the Mountaineers in 2006. “They had a great team that year. That was probably their best team in a while.

“I think we were ranked 15th at the time and they were 13th. I remember Pat White got hurt the previous week against South Florida and wasn’t sure if he was going to play. So I was preparing like a starter that week. It worked out that I got to start.”

No further reminders necessary for anyone at Rutgers, which would have been BCS-bound — and Big East champions — with a victory.

Brown accounted for 317 yards of total offense that game, running for one score and throwing the deciding touchdown pass in the third overtime.

“I hadn’t thought about that game in a while,” he said.

Three years later, and finally out of the shadow of White, Brown has an offense to call his own. But the 6-4, 221-pounder from West Palm Beach, Fla., has found the going to be a bit rocky.

That’s because White has spoiled West Virginia fans forever at the quarterback position.

“It’s everything I expected,” Brown said. “It’s been up and down emotionally, mentally and physically. I fought through the injuries (a mild concussion suffered against Marshall). You’ve got to just block the outsiders and what they say. So it’s everything I expected.”

From a statistical standpoint, Brown has had a solid season, throwing for 2,013 yards and completing 64.7 percent of his passes with 11 touchdown passes and eight interceptions. He has also rushed for 387 yards and five touchdowns.

But he’s not Pat White.

So when the offense started fast — averaging 33.4 points and 449.2 yards through the first five games — and then tailed off (averaging 21.8 points and 337 yards the next five) it was Brown who took the brunt of the criticism.

“It’s a team sport,” said Brown. “People from the outside look in and they don’t understand why we call the plays we call. They don’t understand the game of football. All they know is they have all this talent and they’re supposed to win. That’s it.”

Brown laughed at the notion that he’s perceived as a football villain from a Rutgers perspective. But he not only directed the Mountaineers to that 2006 victory, he took over for an injured White in a 24-17 victory last year, running one yard for the winning TD — West Virginia’s 14th straight win in the series.

“It’s going to be fun,” he said. “I like being in a hostile environment like they’re going to have at Rutgers. The DJ will be blaring the music, the fans will be going crazy. That’s what you enjoy as a player.”